Hi! Hello! 👋
This will be a long read but I hope you'll stay until the end.
Just this weekend, I had the chance to visit the recently opened Warner Bros. Studio here in Tokyo with friends. The experience is still fresh in my memories and I'm still giddy and feel excited just writing about it.
The ticket costs 6,600yen for an adult (includes tax) - you can add options according to your preferences. Visit their official website here. You may want to check out their calendar in advance if you are planning to visit the studio as the tickets tend to sell out quickly, specially the weekends. It's a 4hr-long tour so I would suggest you take an earlier entry time schedule and just check every attraction slowly. Maybe just spend the whole day there or something 😆
Toshimaen Station
Anyway, I arrived with a friend about an hour before my entry time. Along with other friends, I had the 4pm schedule but another friend's schedule was at 3:30pm. I decided to tag along with her. We were able to take the train, Seibu line, going to Toshimaen station. There are 2 Toshimaen stations but you have to be on the Seibu line to be able to see the Harry Potter-themed train and station.
Studio Entrance
The studio is about 5mins away from the station, you can follow the signs to get there or just follow the crowd 😆
Once you've entered, you'll see this giant horntail right above you.
Shop and Food Hall
Before you go start the tour, you may want to check out the shop for props you want to use to get pictures. There are items that can be customized with your name like the cloak, wand, notebooks, sweaters, and more but I forgot 😆 So as an irresponsible spender, I bought a cloak 😆😭 It costs 13,000yen (including tax). The shop is quite big so if you want to check out some items, go there early. To customize your items with your name will take time too, my cloak took 20mins.
The food hall is also right across the shop. We didn't check the food their as it wasn't really time to eat yet. But the banners looked cool so I took a snap.
Attractions
The Great Hall and The Moving Staircase
When we actually started the tour, in the area we were waiting, we were told not to take pictures and videos. Different crews explained some stuff and then we watched a short video. Right after that we were led to the doors for the first attraction, The Great Hall. From this point we can now take picture. If it's your birthday, you get to open the door.
Although the great hall is amazing, the moving staircase has mostly caught my attention. The rooms are right next to each other so I moved on quickly. The stairs actually moved but we only get to see it in action and not ride it. But this room is full of paintings. We went to the stations where we take a short video and then find ourselves among the paintings. Like in the movies, we get to be one of those paintings that move.
Dorm Rooms
The dorm rooms looked exactly like in the movies. I gotta say, the Slytherin common is more my style than Gryffindor standing there up close. It looks so neat and elegant, though I would prefer lighter colors like cream or white. Please excuse the statues, they have no heads.
Quidditch
In this attraction, we get to be an audience for the quidditch game Harry Potter played. When it was about to be our turn, the crew said we will be on the Slytherin side, but one of us said he wanted to be on the Gryffindor side so we had to let the next people lining go in first 😆
In here, the crew asked us to act out certain scenes like celebrate if our team scores or boo if the other team scores, etc. Of course, I overacted 😆 We also get to see the video at the end. Good thing I took a full video there as we only get to download the cut version for free. We only found out the next day that we had to pay to be able to download the full video, oh the consequence of not reading 😆
Dumbledore's Office and Parlour
Visited the studio just a few days after the news of Michael Gambon's (Dumbledore's actor) passing brought out a few emotions standing there in his office. Just looking at his portrait in the parlour right behind the headmaster's desk made me happy and sad at the same time.
Some snaps
Here are a few snaps in the area. I forgot in which order these are.
Forbidden Forrest
Another interactive attraction is in here. We also had fun here creating our own patronus, I don't know what kind of animal I got but it looked like a beaver or a squirrel. I saw buckbeak and some dementors 😬
Hagrid's Crib (Hut)
At first I was a bit disappointed that it was only an outside view but rounding up the back made me so happy. I get to see the inside of Hagrid's hut.
Backlot Cafe Food
After a few hours of walking and admiring everything we encountered, we took a little break at the Backlot Cafe. This is right after Hagrid's Hut.
I bought the butterbeer and popcorn set (1,100yen). Sitting down, I complained about why there were so many popcorn on the ground. Upon opening mine, I instantly knew why 🤦♀️ Btw, we get to take the butterbeer cup home. It's part of what we paid for. And no, you don't have a choice when you buy it.
At first we thought to just have a bit of snacks but later on realizing that we'd complete the tour late, we decided to have dinner right there. It was not as crowded as I expected even though it was on a weekend.
They have plated set meals according to each house. I decided to get Slytherin plate as the sausage looked so good and paired it with orange juice. It was sooo good I was so full. Here's what the plates are like:
Unfortunately none of us had the Ravenclaw plate as we didn't really feel like having it at that moment. Ravenclaw plate is Fish Pie (2,800yen). They also sell ala carte items aside from the meal plates. The prices include tax.
Dursley's House and Knight Bus
Continuing on, we we're greeted with the Dursley's house. Inside was the scene where Aunt Marge transformed into a balloon 😆
Right outside is the knight bus. We really couldn't get inside but that's gonna stop me from hopping on the steps.
Platform 9 3/4
I didn't manage to take a picture of the Hogwarts Express train from the outside but inside the train were different scenes the movies. For each carriage was a train scene. I did not take picture of each here's a few.
There's a store just beside this area that sells items limited only to this shop. And yes my irresponsible self, with no self-control or whatsoever, has bought something impulsively. No regrets though, I already bought it, can't return it back anymore 😆
Ministry of Magic
Next stop is the Ministry of Magic where there's also another interactive attraction(?) where you supposedly came out of the floo network. But these looked cooler, and yes it includes the food.
Diagon Alley
Moving on is the Diagon Alley. I was so excited to get into this area but unfortunately time is running out so I had to rush taking pictures. It was great but I wasn't able to fully enjoy it.
Tour End
At the end of the tour is a massive design of the whole Hogwarts school. The light would also change to mimic night and day. Took a picture of the night view, please enjoy it too.
In between sets you will find some information about how the movie was made. The preparations for designing dresses down to the smallest detail of a window sill. Everything was so detailed. If you are into interior design, architecture, or arts, you would definitely love the little details.
Anyway, I really enjoyed and was amazed by everything in the studio, even though my feet were screaming for me to rest due to walking nonstop for hours. I would love to visit again and just enjoy everything slowly. And also eat all the food I can eat, I want to try them all. Also it would be nice if they'd offer some sort of an annual pass. Whenever I feel like getting some butter beer, I would just randomly hit the studio and head directly to the Backlot cafe. Or maybe just do some chilling and vibing. Ahh it's so nice just thinking about it. Words are not enough to describe the happiness and excitement I felt that day. I hope you enjoyed this blog.
Thank you for reading and see you on my next blog.
Eating-Apple,
Apple
PS: All photos are mine unless stated otherwise.
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Wahahahaha I could still remember the exciting moments here 😅
Will post about my experience soon! ☺️
!PIZZA
Yessss, still daydreaming about it til today hahaha go blog it naaaaaa
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Good heaven, I just stop converting the prices of each items you get that you mentioned here (≧▽≦) parang gusto ko hilahin bag mo tapos itago ba, hahaha, just kidding (≧▽≦).
But seriously, this is a Harry Potter Paradise. Surely, fans of Harry Potter will spend a lot just to see this. But base on what you said na mabilis maubos ang ticket then it is really happening now. This is really awesome gosh. If only I can teleport, I'll do that just to experience this too. And super bet ko yonf Cloak kahit nakakalula ang price. But for the awesome experience diba, why not. Hindi ako naiinggit pramis, the place is superb 😭😭😭
Living here in Japan for a few years already made me realize cost of living is totally different here so I had to change my mindset na d dapat mag convert every time na gagastos ako hahaha pero umiyak pa rin wallet ko 😆😆😭😭
come visit Japan, travel-wise I promise it's worth it talaga wag lng sa summer hahaha
I also watch somewhere na better not convert talaga, pero parang ako, diko wari mapipigilan HAHAHA.
Ipon ulit tapos punta na agad sa next travel destination. Salamat na agad sa virtual tour, uwu.
Why not summer? Super init ba? Mas wagas pa kay Pinas?
sa Pinas kasi ma ffeel mo may hangin pa dito waleys, sobrang humid talaga. D mo ma eenjoy gumala dahil sa init.
Ay ganon, maybe kasi super daming tao? If ever, mas maganda pumunta sa Winter ahaha. Kaso kamusta naman, if kakayanin ng katawal ko lol
Personally mas gusto ko autumn. Maganda din spring dahil sa cherry blossoms. 🌸
Omg, back in 2015 nag Osaka ako for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and now there's a studio in Tokyo. <3 <3 <3 and I met Draco Malfoy in Tokyo during my trip. I hope I can go back to Japan. I want to visit this.
Hope you can visit the studio here too.
Puhon :D
This looks AMAZING! I’ve been to the one in London but I definitely need to go to this one! There’s so many things that aren’t in the London studio.
Yes, it was amazing!! You should come visit 😁 I want to go to the London studio as well but alas I don't have time (and money) to travel far away for now. Maybe someday soon.
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Potterheads unite! Too bad, Dumbledore actor just recently died 😌
Yes, got sad when we reached Dumbledore's Office area 🥲